Forgotten Flathead

Jiggler. From a bygone era full of familiar speed-equipment companies specializing in Ford flatheads, one manufacturer who’s rarely remembered is Texan T. Noah “Tiny” Smith Jr., developer of a unique and successful V8-60 engine found in prewar Midgets. Nicknamed the Jiggler by racers for its “jiggling,” “semioverhead” rockers, the Smith Jiggler was designed shortly after Ford introduced the V8-60 in 1937. Complete engines and kits were built in San Antonio until the early ’50s.

“Before World War II, the V8-60 was the poor man’s Offy,” explains Drew Williams, a retired local racer. “There were dirt tracks everywhere you looked around San Antonio. It seemed like a Midget was parked in front of every corner gas station.” Local businessman T. Noah “Tiny” Smith owned a number of top-ranked cars, including the championship-winning, Pop Dryer–constructed Checkerboard he purchased in 1939. Like most Midgets, Smith’s were usually powered by hot-rodded—and hot-running—versions of Ford’s 134ci flathead. All too often, these engines were transformed into scalding teakettles before the end of a race. Smith’s answer for that problem was fairly simple, although somewhat inspired: Take the heat out of the engine by welding up the exhaust passages on the cast-iron engine block, thereby eliminating that pressure-cooker effect inside. Smith funded the design of an all-new, air-cooled, finned “F” cylinder head (U.S. patent no. 200000248916) that relocated the exhaust valves from the block to his heads. Smith hired aircraft engineer Pete Leonard to produce the blueprints. Machinist Eddie Anderson, who worked for a Smith-family business, Lulling Oil and Gas, performed the prototype work. The pieces were all cast locally. Lulling employees Jessie Garcia, Greg McMillan, and Bob Miller performed final machine work and assembly.

2/12Smith Jiggler engines were designed, manufactured, and assembled entirely in San Antonio, the home of various Smith-family businesses. This company photo is the only shot we've seen of inventor Tiny Smith (in the hat, third from right), not long before WWII halted American auto racing.

A key ingredient for the success of Smith’s cylinder head was a very short exhaust passage, which not only eliminated the overheating problem but also relieved excessive backpressure in the cylinder. To accomplish this, it was necessary to devise a special, 15-degree pedestal mount/oil-cup reservoir and pushrod-actuated rocker-arm assembly. The Smith Jiggler further featured a Winfield R4-grind camshaft, Eddie Meyer forged-aluminum pistons, a Barker magneto, special Smith Jiggler water manifolds, and a modified Eddie Meyer 2x2 intake manifold mounting Stromberg 91 carburetors. A 2.600-inch bore combined with a 3.200-inch stroke to produce 134 ci and 115 hp (at 6,500 rpm). Compression ratio was 11.1:1. Two styles of block were offered, either retaining the stock bellhousing for use with conventional Ford or LaSalle three-speed transmissions or trimmed for mounting a competition in-and-out box. Perhaps because of its steep $1,050 price tag, sales were limited to about 30 complete engines, plus approximately 20 conversion kits.

3/12Here's a copy of the catalog that helped revive Smith's engine in the early '50s, when he marketed the "semistock" Jiggler to owners of MG TD sports cars.

Initially suffering from oil starvation and inferior rocker-arm castings, refined versions of the Smith Jiggler went on to become quite popular in Southwestern Midget circuits, often beating King Offy at its own game. In fact, Smith’s little engine—which old-timers insist had a sound unlike any other V8-60, especially on methanol—became so successful that some racing associations would not allow it to compete against the Offys. Later, the engine enjoyed a brief renaissance with MG owners when the second-generation TD model was introduced to America in 1952. Another family enterprise, Smith Import Motors, specialized in the sales and service of British cars. Like the stock Ford V8-60, MG’s four-banger was notorious for overheating, especially in Texas. Smith came up with a 9.0:1-compression, detuned version of his old Midget motor for his daughter Sugar’s MG—a full decade before another Texan by the name of Shelby got the notion of dropping a lightweight American V8 into a medium-priced English sports car—and offered street conversions through his San Antonio distributorship for $750, installed, or $450 in kit form. For MG racers on the up-and-coming road-racing scene, Smith also offered a sleeved, 1.9L/119.36ci competition version that met SCCA rules.

4/12Here's the Smith Jiggler engine that Bill Jones assembled to honor and surprise his old pal Tiny Smith at the 1989 Texas Oval Track Racers' Reunion.

Retired IndyCar mechanic Bill Jones is considered the keeper of the flame when it comes to Smith Jiggler engines and even owns some of the original patterns. An automotive legend in his own right, Jones was an avid racer on both land and sea with V8-60 Midgets and flathead-powered hydroplanes prior to WWII, and he later opened an Oklahoma City speed shop. “Tiny Smith and I became acquainted up at the Indianapolis 500,” he explains. “Being that we were both in the import-car business, we used to socialize together, along with our wives. About 20 years ago, Tiny suffered a stroke. He had already sold out his interests in his dealerships and retired. I would come by his house and take him out to lunch. One day I asked him, ‘Whatever happened to the original Smith Jiggler that you took out of the Checkerboard car?’ He said, ‘I’ve still got it, or whatever’s left of it.’” Jones was further surprised to learn that Smith and his wife, Nita Ruth, had also saved the famed Checkerboard itself. “I asked if they would be interested in selling whatever they had,” Jones continues. “Tiny said, ‘No, we want to give it to you. We know that you’ll restore it, and we’d like the car to live on in the minds of Midget racers for a few more years.’”

5/12Beneath the F-head's massive exhaust ports are evidence of the original V8-60 ports, welded shut by Smith's crew.

Simultaneously, Jones was involved with a group of people who staged a Texas Oval Track Racers’ Reunion. Each year, they honored someone for major contributions to the sport. When Jones suggested to the board of directors that they honor Smith for his V8-60 engines in 1989, the decision was unanimous. “I wanted to build a Smith Jiggler for the big event,” Jones recalls. “I found pieces in Ohio, in California, in Colorado, even here in San Antonio. I ended up buying all the stuff I could find and built a display engine. They pushed Tiny up to the podium in a wheelchair. His son, two daughters, and wife were all present. After [emcee] Johnny Doyle pulled off the red cloth covering that engine, tears rolled down Tiny’s cheeks. He said, ‘Bill, that’s the first complete Smith Jiggler I’ve seen in over 30 years!’”

6/12How's this for '30s American engineuity? Smith's radical, "semioverhead" castings were beautifully machined.

Smith passed away on September 1, 1999, but his legacy and legend will live as long as someone remembers the unique V8-60s that powered fast, prewar Midgets and postwar sports cars. His friend Bill Jones did his part by rescuing the original Smith Jiggler engine, restoring the Checkerboard Midget, and inspiring us to share Smith’s story with you. ★

Pictured on the tarmac at Pan American Speedway with King Downum behind the wheel, Jimmy Johnson’s Jiggler-powered No. 222 was not a big winner in south Texas Midget racing. Rather, it gained its fame as the little race car later parked beneath the roller coaster at Playland, a San Antonio amusement park also owned by Johnson, from the early ’60s until the roller coaster was demolished in 1987.

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After Tiny Smith died, Bill Jones started searching for what local kids called the Roller Coaster Car. He learned that the Johnson family sold the Bill McCall–built Midget to someone who’d installed a stock V8-60, then used the car to run back and forth to the mailbox on his Texas ranch! “After making the deal to buy the car, I was told that a box of spare parts went along with it,” Jones says. “To my delight, the seller had saved the original Smith Jiggler V8-60 engine along with an extra set of Smith Jiggler cylinder heads, a spare cam, and a spare intake manifold.”

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No. 222 survived all three of its previous lives in surprisingly good shape, as evidenced by the disassembled components. Bill has since restored the little car that tantalized the senses of children who knew it when roller coaster rides cost 10 cents and cotton candy was just a nickel.